#ed's arc in s2 is about getting at peace with himself after the horrible things he's done finally boomeranged back to him

[laststandx3]

if Izzy had to die, like it was inevitable for the plot then I wish he died when he shot himself. then the only person who sees him is ed, and izzy literally turns into the symbol of blackebeard. Ed struggles to leave everything he was behind because backtracking after he caused izzy to kill himself makes him feel like he could have saved him. during the season izzy follows ed in every scene except the ones ed's with stede (so it's the perfect metaphor for ed to be at peace) and after a while finally when ed is alone. and ed mourns and then at the end we find out izzy was a ghost all along, and when ed lets go of izzy's ghost then he's ready to leave blackbeard behind.

it would still hurt and izzy's purpose in the story would still be about ed's arc, but at least izzy's death has consequences.

and in the meanwhile if you want to headcanon him as alive in the background bc ed's not very in touch with reality and in some scenes izzy interacts with people then there's the plot twist at the end that ed's guilt materialized as izzy (and you can put so many implications about their relationship here) but when ed finally lets go of his past then izzy can be his own person, have his own arc.

because we didn't even need so much izzy screen time this season (i loved it) but we didn't need izzy to have so many interactions with the crew and stede and everyone and have him grow. he could have stayed in the background slowly fitting in. and if they got renewd for a third season they could've explored his character more. and this season could've been really about ed/stede relationship instead of having them getting together -> breaking up -> getting together -> breaking up -> getting together... s2 focused on the main characters' realtionship and if they got renewd for s3 then background characters is fine. but like this, they tried to have everything and instead we got half-completed story-lines that feel hollow

#izzy hands #ofmd #ofmd spoiler #don't get me wrong i love izzy hands but if he had to die then i wished for it to have meaning #ed's arc in s2 is about getting at peace with himself after the horrible things he's done finally boomeranged back to him #and stede's arc is about deciding if he wants to be a pirate or not BUT along with ed's choices #ed can still very much decide to be a fisherman out of the blue but then stede follows not that stede wants to be a pirate the very moment #ed wants to quit #and at the end they find out that the thing that made them happy about all those life changes was having each other #stede bonnet #edward teach

[heyhojoy]

The Case for Hornigold

So like a lot of people I would love to see S2 focusing on Ed’s character arc, him finding out who he really is / wants to be, freeing himself from the constricts of expectations and toxic masculinity and integrating all the different parts of his personality into something wholesome (preferably doing all this independent of Stede, as has been argued really well in other metas that I will link here as soon as I find them again).

And you know who he absolutely needs to meet for this integration and healing to happen?

Hornigold!

Let me explain why this would make for excellent storytelling.

The epic potential of this meeting struck me like a lightning bolt when I was reading up a little bit about the historical version of Edward Teach. In an article somewhere there was one sentence that let the whole story unfurl in my mind immediately. It’s the last sentence of this paragraph:

Uuuuh. So “historically”, Hornigold is out there somewhere hunting pirates. At the end of S1, Ed has just broken his Act of Grace contract after like one day, so we can assume that the British navy will be after him real bad (not just a  Badminton brother out for personal revenge this time!) and will presumably start something of a hunt for him / put a price on his head. It would be very believable for Hornigold to start taking up that trail.

Now, we now that this show does not care about historical accuracy, but why pass up a chance of such  juicy meeting, when history serves you a cue like that? (An excellent opportunity to go with the “yes, and…” of improv!)

We know from the breakfast conversation with Calico Jack that also in the OFMD universe, Ed sailed with Hornigold, back when CJ and Ed “first became outlaws”. We know that Hornigold abused them, verbally and physically  (“worse than dogs”, “stabbed us”, “ground us down into nothing” etc.). So Ed learned the way of piracy from an abusive asshole, an epitome of toxic masculinity. Let that sink in. He (presumably) ran away from home after he killed his dad in a very traumatic experience and first place he ended up in was Hornigold’s ship, which sounds like horrible environment to be at any time, let alone after something like this.

But he got out of there and is now one of the most infamous pirate captains himself. He made a name for himself by telling a ghost story of violence, by creating a creature that came straight from Hornigold’s ship of horrors, if you so will. But we know that he did not turn into that person, it is just a performance – it has been drilled into him that this is how piracy works (and it does! it does work! But for what price) and he performs this role brilliantly for a long time.

At the end of S1, Ed turns into the kraken. He does not ‘revert’ to Blackbeard, his flashy, charismatic fuckery persona, but turns into something much darker, where actually he is all the things that he only ever projected before, dead-serious, stone-hearted.

Good storytelling will show us how he gets out of this again. How he makes deliberate choices that bring him closer to peace and understanding of himself, to acceptance of all sides of him, the soft and the chaotic-violent ones. It will be very hard and obstacles will need to be overcome. And, very importantly, for this to feel like fulfilling storytelling he needs to face his past and tell it: No. I will not follow your dictate, I deliberately and consciously choose to leave you behind and forge my own path – my past does not determine my future!

What better way to spell that out than meeting the abusive mentor (who has even taken a pardon!!! Who has even ‘betrayed’ the concept piracy??) and tell him NO to his face?

It would feel really threatening to be hunted by your horrible former mentor, having to face him, making you inevitably revert back to feeling small, young, helpless and hopeless. (Is there any other character that could possibly have this effect on Ed??)

So imagine how good it will feel to then slam your foot down, because you’re not young and helpless anymore, you’ve grown, you choose a different path, and you stand up for your current self and your younger self.

Imagine how good it would feel to Ed to tell his abusive mentor that he did not deserve to be treated like this, that Hornigold was wrong about life (and I guess piracy) and that he can go suck eggs in hell.

So, anyone else excited for Hornigold in S2???

#ofmd #ofmd meta #our flag means death #ed teach #hornigold #ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2